Two General Motors EV1 Electric Cars Spotted In China

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Almost every single one of the 1,117 General Motors EV1 electric cars produced from 1996-1999 were destroyed. A select group of 40 vehicles were saved and donated to various research and educational organizations, including 20 of which were sent to institutions overseas. It seems likely that the two EV1 electric cars recently spotted by Car News China were part of those 20 vehicles.

A green and a blue EV1 were spotted at the National Electric Vehicle Experimental and Demonstration Area near Shantou City in China’s Guangdong Province. The Electric Vehicle Experimental and Demonstration Area is a government owned center which aids in the development of electric vehicle technology. In the early ’90s China’s electric vehicle knowledge was nil, so the government imported foreign examples to help gain a better understanding of them.

Car News China doesn’t think these Chevy Volt ancestors were part of the 20 cars voluntarily donated by GM. All of the 40 donated vehicles, save for 1 which is now at the Smithsonian Institution, had their electric drivetrains dismantled under the premise the cars were never to be re-activated and driven on the road. It seems unlikely a research center would have any interest at all in an electric car with no drivetrain, so it’s possible China got their hands on these mysterious two cars in a different way.

There is a third EV1 in China that GM does know about, a gleaming red example in the Shanghai Automotive Museum, which was a gift from the General Motors Heritage Collection.

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10 Comments

China probably bought the cars off of lessees, and agreed to pay GM’s stiff penalty for not returning the vehicle at the end of the lease.

I never asked what the penalty was, but I’ve heard it was massive.

GM probably knows which ones they are – but probably didn’t know they were in China. I’m surprised they were reassembled, I’ll bet $500 to the charity of GMA’s choice that they were taken apart completely at least once for, ahem, study.

GM did not lease these outside the USA and do you think if China did lease them that they would really pay any penalty? China has stolen technology from around the world in any way they could to try to catch up with the rest of the world. They have copied everything from I phones to a F22 Raptor but with all they have done they often are lacking in some details.

This car was never perfected as it was really a prototype that GM let the public have not too much different than the Turbine cars of Chrysler of the 60’s. Those who like to bring in some great conspiracy really do not use all the facts.

While parts of this car have laid the ground work for the Volt it is pretty old and basic technology in todays terms. So what ever they got is not much help here. They would be better off stealing technology from a Volt.

GM has not exported the Volt there as China wants the use of the intellectual property of the car for free to sell it there. GM has refused to do this the last I have heard. I would assume they would continue to negotiate this.

I saw one of these last year in Cleveland and it had been years since I had seen one or even sat in one. I forgot how crude these were compared to where we are today.

And I hope they never get the Volt technology from GM. But I suppose there are ways to get them from other countries into China, but hopefully by the time they pull it apart GEN 2 and beyond will be out anyway making Gen 1 pretty obsolete.

I just came across an old article written by a gentleman who worked on the EV1 project. He mentioned that GM sent over five EV1s and five S-10 electric trucks (all in running condition) to China for them to study. He even went over there to help teach them about the vehicles. He stated that China has a district there where they are working on clean air technology – solar, wind, zero emission cars, etc.